Great Victoria Desert & Nullarbor
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- This is an expedition through the Great Victoria Desert, the largest desert in Australia, and through the Nullarbor, the world's largest limestone plain. These are two of Australia's great arid regions. We follow the Anne Beadell Highway from Coober Pedy to the West Australian goldfields, visiting the remote Emu Fields, the site of two British nuclear tests, along the way. The focus in the Great Victoria Desert is on the ever changing vegetation of this "green" and diverse desert. The return trip traverses the Nullarbor plain, following faint rabitters tracks. From Watson on the Continental Railway Track we briefly return to the Great Victoria Desert to visit Maralinga, another British nuclear test site.
One of the best productions I have watched on UA-cam. Very well put together and edited. Very "watchable".
Thank you for your comment, Paul! That made my day! D
Fabulous, Don. Stunning shots of beautiful, exquisite desert life. Bravissimo!
Absolutely stunning footage.
Breathtaking. Stunning. Inspiring. Many UA-cam videos highlight the Australian outback, but very few capture the raw beauty of this great garden as you have - a credit to your skill and vision. Thank you, and now I'm off to find more Don Fuchs videos to watch.
You beat me to it! Agree 💯
Absolutely brilliant Don, I apologise for missing the premier. Can't wait to meet you in our beautiful desert soon.
Thanks so much, Cam. Yes, I missed you and your son at the gathering. Will you do the Canning this year?
A great report. I have done the Anne Beadell, the Connie Sue, the Great Central Road and the Tanami Track, the Canning Stock Route, the Gary Junction Highway and too many more to mention. I just love desert country which truly has its own beauty. It takes a while to appreciate it.
You mention the “dark history” of Emu Plains. Yes, there was that significant element to it, particularly the imperialist British colonial demand to use Australia to try out its atomic bombs. If you are referring to the displacement/relocation of aborigines from the area to protect them from radiation, all this is true but it is also true that the small family/clan of aborigines living off the desert land at the time were essentially women and children left to fend for themselves by their men during a time of drought. If you view films of the time of these people, it is clear that they were starving and more than likely a good number, if not all, would have perished. It was typical of aboriginal clans to be constantly “on the move” looking for food and water and shelter. They were, after all nomadic hunters and gatherers who did not have permanent places where they lived. Although they did re-visit places when condition in/around them improved.
I see the inevitable cooking segment…oh well, have to eat I suppose. Nice bit of pork.
As you clearly show, deserts are beautiful living landscapes. But could you please leave the bloody trees alone, dead or otherwise? Burning large quantities of dead trees etc might seem inconsequential. It isn't! Thing is, thousands of people are now travelling "outback" and into desert country. And probably every second person is cutting down a tree or burning dead tree wood. See the problem?
In my experience, it’s as big a problem in the outback as unburied shit, toilet paper, used baby nappies and used syringes.
Dead or alive, trees are critical elements of desert landscapes because they stabilise dune country, provide essential habitat for little creatures and a swathe of insect types from the heat of the day and cool of the night. And they provide sanctuary from predators. As if feral cats don't kill enough of the little creatures, like close to a billion a year apparently, men (and sometimes women) come along and needlessly put creatures in even more peril by burning and otherwise destroying their habitat.
Dead bark and other fragments you see at the base of trees provide food and nourishment for a myriad of insects that, if you looked, you will find amongst it. This debris keeps the roots of the tree cool so that it can better survive in the hot, dry desert. It reduces evaporation of water (what little there is) that is in the soil, thus providing it with the meagre water supply it needs to survive. And, as it breaks down it provides nourishment for the tree.
When you remove this top debris cover, you absolutely kill the tree.
The clear area around the tree and all the other vegetation you see, is where myriads of harvester ants and other insects (for perhaps as long as 100 years and more and who knows how many generations) have cleared the dead vegetation and taken into their nests for food.
Campers also need to understand that fires sterilise the soil beneath them, to a depth of at least a metre. Nothing will sprout through it for hundreds of years.
So, I say again, leave the bloody trees alone, dead or otherwise.
If you want a (gargantuan) fire, for cooking or ambiance, take your firewood with you. There are plenty of suppliers of firewood in 20kg bags and dirt cheap that don't take up much room in a 4b. And even more room when travelling with 2 or 3 or more vehicles.
If you want to stay warm at night, take an extra sleeping bag and proper night-time clothing that will keep you warm. Deserts get down to 0c and lower by midnight.
If you can't or won't follow this approach then, better still, cook with gas. Or fit a travel oven. Or stay at home or on the bitumen.
This is my 50c worth of preaching.... but no, not really preaching. Just trying to educate outback wanderers of better ways to behave. Good behaviour when outback isn't just about burying your shit, and taking your rubbish and memories with you. Too often the footprint that is left will be a destructive one, though most people will not realise it. And, I am not a greenie.
if i was a billionaire i would develop a small town here